Quotulatiousness

June 13, 2023

Why The Far Side is a masterclass in storytelling

Filed under: Books, Humour, Media, USA — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

The Gaze
Published 26 Dec 2019

The Far Side by Gary Larson is one of the best and most praised cartoons in history. But what makes The Far Side so good? What is the legacy of Gary Larson? And most importantly: what can we learn from The Far Side?

0:00 Pixar and Storytelling
1:22 How Gary Larson tells a story
2:42 The Far Side facts and figures
3:22 The level of detail in The Far Side
4:04 Telling a story with one image and a punchline
5:09 What is The Far Side about?
7:11 Gary Larson and naturalism
7:40 Controversy over The Far Side
8:10 The legacy of The Far Side
9:00 Conclusion

SOURCES
The Complete Far Side, Gary Larson, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1278p

Gary Larson and The Far Side, Kerry D. Cooper, University Press of Mississippi

“The Pleasures of Stupidity: Gary Larson as Baudelairean Caricaturist”, David Carrier, Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1/2 (Fall—Winter 1998-1999), pp. 62-70

“The Savage Mind of Gary Larson”, Lucy Rollin, Studies in Popular Culture, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1989), pp. 75-86

Toy Story, John Lasseter, Pixar Studios, 1995

“Interview of Gary Larson by Lynn Sherr”, ABC’s 20/20, 8 January 1987

The Simpsons Season 9 Episode 5 – “Treehouse of Horror VIII”

The Thagomizer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer

StrigiphilusGarylarsoni: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigip…

Norm & Cliff explain The Far Side to Woody, Cheers, S09E04, 1990

MUSIC

Andra Långgatan, pär: https://soundcloud.com/p-r-hagstr-m/a…

A House of Glass, pär: https://soundcloud.com/p-r-hagstr-m/a…

Valiant, Luar: https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats/vali…

Related posts:

  1. On The Far Side
  2. “… if you’re on the side that says the other guy isn’t entitled to a side, you’re on the wrong side“
  3. QotD: You (probably) drive on the wrong side of the road
  4. QotD: Elements of dramatic storytelling
  5. The Last Closet: the Dark Side of Avalon

2 Comments

  1. Farside will always have a special place in my heart, and the heart of any paleontologist. The spikes on the end of the stegosaur tail are called the thagomizer, based on one of Larson’s comics. The field of science realized they had no name for that structure, saw that comic, and collectively went “Oh, we have to!”

    Comment by Dinwar — June 13, 2023 @ 08:12

  2. We had a family outing to the Royal Ontario Museum earlier this year, and my daughter-in-law and I almost simultaneously started to point this out to my grandnieces … we both laughed at the timing. It’s a brilliant tribute to a brilliant cartoonist.

    Comment by Nicholas — June 13, 2023 @ 12:59

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